Laurie Sandell

Ambien strikes again!

Laurie — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:44:13 +0000

The latest celeb to admit to abusing Ambien is Lindsay Lohan–and we seem to have had the exact same Ambien/bathtub experience! She says:

“I went to rehab three times. The first time I checked myself in because I had taken Ambien. It’s a sleeping aid but it makes you hallucinate. I’d run a bath and fallen asleep on the floor and the bath had overflowed. When I woke up I was so scared, I called my therapist and said, ‘Can I just go somewhere for a month? I’m around bad people and I need to take care of myself.’”

Stars–they are just like us.

Did my first Glamour cover interview in LA

Laurie — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:35:25 +0000

And what a difference having an LA home makes. Instead of throwing things into a suitcase, finding someone to watch Violet, rushing to the airport, sitting on a plane for six hours, and checking into a hotel, I got to hop in my car and cruise over to Los Feliz, a nearby neighborhood, to have lunch with our star. So what can I tell you about her? She’s whip-smart, getting tons of buzz for a recent performance, has great style, is in a relationship, and has known hardship in her life. We met at a restaurant in Los Feliz which was the site of my Katherine Heigl interview a year ago; a French brasserie with outdoor tables. She was right on time, wearing a casual black sweater and jeans, her hair pulled back, with natural-looking makeup. (Notice I didn’t say “no makeup.” I won’t be fooled! They’re always wearing makeup for an interview, even if it’s nude eyeshadow and semi-permanent eyelashes.) We hit it off right away, though I can’t tell you why, because then you might figure out who she is. Let’s just say we had something in common, related to our families. She spoke candidly for someone in her position (on the verge of being huge, that is), and didn’t have that usual celebrity guardedness. She was a bit reluctant to talk about her relationship, and who can blame her–it’s lasted a long time for a reason. Give me a month or so and I’ll be able to reveal who she is.

Had a bday in LA

Laurie — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:55:49 +0000

Since I know very few people here, I kept my expectations low, but ended up having a great time. My close friend Paul came in from New York and helped me prepare for a little party I had at my house. He invited his good friend Becky, who is married to the very funny Dave Mandel, executive producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Merrill Markoe, whom I talk about frequently on this blog, stopped by (below right), as did my friends Karen Ramos (below left), Julie May, Emma Forrest, and others. Unlike some parties I’ve had in the past, where I’ve spent the whole time running around making sure people were having a good time, I let this one run itself. Which, I’ve decided, is the only way to enjoy a party. Now it’s time for me to enjoy the last 10 years of my thirties.

Stars…they’re just like us!

Laurie — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:12:28 +0000

They pump gas! They sip coffee! They go on hikes through Runyon Canyon, complaining the entire way! My close friend Paul came to LA to visit me for my birthday, and he couldn’t have been nicer: Treating me to breakfast, helping me prepare for a little party I had. But he wasn’t so into my efforts to show him the “other” side of LA. We took a lovely hike through Runyon Canyon (Paul: “First and last time I’m doing this”), strolled along Venice Beach (Paul: “Dirty and gross”), and visited Equator Books (OK, so now I know it’s out of business). He was more interested in visiting Fred Segal and Confederacy (expensive clothing stores), and seeing The Blind Side to prepare for his Oscar viewing party (let’s just say I was blindsided by how bad it was.) We’re very different, but he’s still one of my favorite people in the world.

In other news, here’s a link to my appearance on FOX News, where I talked about sleeping pill addiction.

Meet the world’s leading expert on Ambien addiction

Laurie — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:08:09 +0000

After I wrote about my Ambien addiction for Glamour, the letters from readers poured in and I was asked to appear on The Today Show. Let’s not talk about what my bangs looked like–I cut them myself right before the show–or how tired I looked (nerves!) Now, any time a network does a piece on sleeping pill addiction, who gets a call? Yours truly! That’s right: I have officially segued from “published author” and “celebrity interviewer” into “camera-ready junkie.” A month ago I appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, and yesterday Fox News in Boston called me into a satellite studio here in LA to tape a segment about the same issue. Of course, this was a far cry from The Dr. Oz Show; there was no green room this time, just me, alone in a room, sitting in a chair with a mike in my ear. It’ll air Monday night at 10:00 PM on FOX News in Boston, and I’ll post a link to the segment once it airs, if it’s not too embarrassing.

A friend visits from New York

Laurie — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:58:08 +0000

Meet Jenny Rosenstrach, former Cookie editor (RIP Cookie), foodie, writer, illustrator, and friend of several decades–we went to Hebrew school together. In fact, aside from my dad, she was the first person to encourage my cartooning; I used to draw a comic strip just for her called “Famous Faces,” in which I’d draw our classmates and teachers and she’d have to guess who was whom. Since Cookie folded, she’s been using her considerable energies and talents to write a cookbook, create a blog, write magazine articles and raise her two adorable girls, Phoebe and Abby. Let the record show that despite her relentless optimism, she has a dark side. I saw it myself, when, in the middle of brunch on Saturday, she pulled out a camera, and as I smoothed my hair and offered a camera-ready smile, she instead snapped a photo of her food. This is a woman who has documented every single meal she has cooked for the past 10 years or so; she is the Henry Darger of food, and runs the risk of becoming one of those freakish outsider artists whose unintelligible scribblings will be found under her bed after she passes, to be studied by suicidal goth chefs for years to come.

She also happens to be married to one of the very best (if not the best) editors in the business, Andy Ward, who edited my Esquire piece back in the day, became the executive editor of GQ, and is now an editor at Random House. Andy was the first person to encourage me to write about my dad, and Jenny was the first person to assign me a magazine piece–a book review of a Barbie coffee-table book for Biography–so the two of them are more or less single-handedly responsible for my career. I like to keep things in the family.

“First Fridays” in LA

Laurie — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:51:09 +0000

This weekend I met up with my friend Karen Ramos and her friend Bayne Gibby (who acted in one of my favorite shows, The Comeback) to attend “First Fridays” at The Museum of Natural History in LA. The first Friday of every month, they open the museum to the public for lectures, bands, food and drink. We tried to get in to see a new hot band called Yeasayer, but by the time we arrived, the fire marshal was turning people away. So instead we hung out in the diorama room, listening to a DJ spin tunes, watching kids dance, and fleeing stampeding elephants! Then we explored the museum with a bunch of a drunk hipsters. And learned about birds.

After The Rapture, I will take your dog

Laurie — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:28:09 +0000

A woman in Westfield, Indiana has created a website dedicated to the care of pets left stranded by the coming of Jesus. The tagline reads, “If The Rapture happened right now, what would happen to your pets?” Presumably, millions of Chihuahuas, Pugs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, and even elephants would be stranded in their empty homes and cages, bereft of food, water and companionship. But for the low, low price of $15/month, you will be assured that after you leave this mortal coil, your pet will be taken care of by a heathen Jew or other non-Christian like myself!

A question in the Q/A: “Isn’t the world going to be totally collapsed after The Rapture?” A: When all the Christians on the planet disappear, there will certainly be mass devastation. However, the majority of people will still be on earth, and communications will be their first priority to maintain. As far as the data about all registered pets, it is located on Google servers (the most secure servers in the world) as well as our own server in Lansing, Michigan (away from political and military hot spots to minimize chance of destruction if there is a post-Rapture war.)

Isn’t that refreshing! Just so this hilarity is properly credited, my friend Merrill Markoe sent this to me, and it was sent to her by Elayne Boosler. According to Merrill, this is real.

A night out with a book group in Beverly Hills

Laurie — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:11:45 +0000

Julie Goler, Book Club Facilitator

Since I’ve come to LA, I’ve met with a number of book groups who are reading my book, thanks to the amazing Julie Goler, who holds the interesting position of “book club facilitator” and also teaches at Beverly Hills High School. She chooses a book for her group then moderates the discussion; there’s an interesting article on what she does, here. So far, the groups have been made up of women only, but the women come from all walks of life, and I’ve so enjoyed hearing their thoughts on the book from all their different perspectives. The other night I met with a group of women who were all around my age–25, give or take a few (or ten or thirteen) years–and the discussion took place in a sprawling home in Beverly Hills, over sushi from Koi and a cupcake tower. (Hello, can I join this group?) It’s funny how the same questions seem to come up over and over: What do your parents and sisters think about the book? Why did you tell the story in cartoons? Would you like a glass of wine? (No, thank you–see Pg. 199 of The Impostor’s Daughter: A True Memoir.) But the more I ruminate on the answers, the more clarity I get, and the more clarity I get, the more depressed I get…kidding, sort of. Connecting with readers has been by far my favorite experience of writing a book. That, and the mega-chunk of change that is sure to be deposited into my bank account when/if the paperback becomes a best-seller and when/if the movie rights sell.

“So, what’s your next book idea?”

Laurie — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:36:27 +0000

Did you know that you can spend four years doing research for a book, two years writing it, one year drawing it, and mere months after it comes out, people will start asking, “So–what’s your next book idea?” Huh? Next book idea? As if I didn’t mine every single solitary idea I’ve ever had for that book? As if my brain hasn’t accessed every painful, funny memory; processed it, turned it into art, and now you want to know if there’s more? The main problem, of course, is that one doesn’t want to brainstorm a book idea; you want it to arise naturally. I picked up Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book, Committed, the other day, and she addressed this problem right in the intro. Of course, I don’t have quite the same problems that Elizabeth Gilbert has (ie. trying to come up with an encore for a book that sold several million copies). Anyway, I’ve been tossing around lots of ideas: Another graphic novel. Out of the question. Maybe if this one had been a huge bestseller and my publisher had begged me to do another one, I would have considered it. But I told this story in graphic form because I had to; it was the only way I could talk about my father without succumbing to fear. Another memoir, then. No. I put every experience I’ve ever had into that book. And if I didn’t include it in that book, I wrote about it for a magazine. So a novel. Well, yes. I’d love to try my hand at a novel. But I’d need a few years to pull that off. And a psychic I saw on New Year’s told me I was going to write something else first. Anyway, I did come up with a new idea the other day, and I know this is a very cryptic way to end a blog post, but I’m not going to share it here, because it’s nascent and fragile and I’m not ready to put it out into the world. But da-yum, I think I’m excited. It involves a little bit of cartooning and a lot of non-fiction writing. I’ll leave it at that.